In a digital age where millions of documents are created, sent, and processed each day, administration becomes a time-consuming and laborious undertaking. Fortunately, with the advancement of AI technology and automation software, repetitive, morale-killing tasks a workforce used to execute are now managed by intelligent technology. This has freed up employees to be able to spend their time and expertise on higher value projects, saving businesses both time and money.
What is workflow automation?
Workflow automation is a type of software that completes repetitive tasks and activities automatically without the need for human intervention. Its “set and forget” nature allows businesses to move low-value, laborious admin workflows into an automated stream that follow a set of intelligent parameters to complete the task in the same way a human user would.
How do you automate workflow?
Automating your workflows can be a straightforward process, especially if you pick the right tool for your needs. Here are five steps on how you can begin automating your workflows:
Step 1: Identify workflows that can be automated
Before you start automating workflows, you must first find processes within your business that can be automated. This could be as simple as processing incoming emails in an inbox, or as complex as automating your entire accounts payable workflow.
Step 2: Choose a workflow automation tool
There are many workflow automation tools out there to choose from, but each one does things slightly differently or excels in certain areas. ThinkAutomation is a great all-round, low code option to start automating workflows (and even has a free trial so you can try before you buy).
Step 3: Set up your automations in the workflow automation software
Open the automation software and start building your first workflow automation. It is good to start with a simple, pre-built template and run the automation a few times to become comfortable with the tool. Once you have assessed a few automations, you will be better equipped to start creating your own, custom automations.
Step 4: Monitor running automations
Once you have set up your workflow automations, evaluate and monitor them to ensure they are behaving in the way you would expect. Your workflow automations should be completing the tasks exactly the way you would want a human worker to perform them. If anything seems off, check your automation in the tool to see if you have missed any steps or actions in the process.
Step 5: Optimise automations
With your workflow automations running, it is best practice to keep an eye on how the processes are performing and identify any areas that can be optimised for even better efficiency.
The best workflow automation software
With a wide selection of workflow automation tools available, it is difficult to decide on which tool to invest in and use. Here are our top choices for workflow automation:
ThinkAutomation
ThinkAutomation is a powerful business process automation solution designed for organisations of any size, enabling the automation of both on-premises and cloud-based workflows to save time and reduce costs.
It streamlines incoming communication channels, monitors databases, and responds to webhooks, web forms, and AI-powered chatbots. You can process documents, attachments, local files, and other message sources, analysing and extracting data from incoming messages to trigger a set of business actions.
With ThinkAutomation, you can manage outbound communications, update databases and CRM systems, process documents, integrate with cloud services, enable ChatGPT automation, and much more. It provides an open-ended workspace to build automated workflows without limitations on volume, processes, and workflows.
ThinkAutomation is available to buy on a perpetual licence basis.
Jira Software
This tool is a workflow optimisation solution. It streamlines service-related tasks, improving task management and ensuring smooth resolution of issues. The tool’s intuitive interface and collaboration features enables your teams to interact seamlessly, enhancing project management and workflow.
Kissflow
This is a good choice for automated workflow creation, offering a simple and flexible approach to automating workflows. Through the workflow platform, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity is easy and effective.
Examples of automated workflows
Workflow automation software can be used in a multitude of diverse ways. If you can think of a repetitive business process, chances are automation software can automate it. Here are several examples of automations that are used every day:
Email to database
Workflow automation software can scan any message, including emails, and look for and extract data which it then assigns to a ‘field’ name in a database.
Once a field is extracted, the tool can then remove leading and trailing spaces, change the case, and perform other transformative actions. You can also combine multiple fields into one (e.g. First Name + Last Name) and perform actions on the field values.
Any number of fields can be extracted from a single message and can even be used on subsequent actions within an automation.
Intelligent document processing (IDP)
IDP functionality enables you to automatically scan incoming documents attached to a message source (such as an email), extract crucial information, and process it depending on what information is in the document. For example, if an email arrives in your inbox with an attachment labelled as “Industry Guidelines”, the software can extract the relevant information from the document and automatically update your industry guidelines document.
Accounts payable automation
Workflow automation software enables you to automate your entire accounts payable process. For example, if an attachment labelled “Invoice” is sent to an email inbox, the software can extract the payment details, verify the invoice, and automatically send payment to the correct account. If any discrepancies are spotted between the received invoice and your database, the software can automatically send the invoice to be processed by the correct employee.
Contact centre automation
Workflow automation software can retrieve your contact centre data, process it, and respond to it based on your set workflow rules. With this, you can send triggered outbound SMS and emails to customers, automatically field complaints and issue tickets, and track, collate, and act on customer feedback.
Email classification
Automation tools can scan the contents of an email, send a summary of the content to an AI tool, then ask the AI tool to determine what classification the email would fall under. This response is then fed back to the automation tool, which moves the email to the correct inbox based on what classification it falls under. In this way, emails (and other message sources) can be rerouted to the correct person within the company automatically.
Advantages of automating workflows
There are many benefits to using workflow automation software. Here are a few examples and why they work:
| Benefit | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| Speed | Workflow automation software completes tasks almost instantly compared to a human worker. |
| Accuracy | Tasks are completed to a high accuracy due to the removal of human error. |
| Consistency | Repetitive tasks are completed the same way every time, no matter how many times the task must be executed. |
| Efficiency | By taking repetitive, time-consuming admin tasks away from your workforce, their time can be spent on more high value tasks. |
| Cost Savings | By saving time on admin tasks, there is no need to employ a large workforce to process these. |
What are low code workflow automation tools?
A low code automation tool is a software program that is designed in a way in which it makes it simple for anyone, even those with low coding knowledge, to operate. Low code automation software usually has an innovative dashboard that allows the user to set workflow automations by dragging and dropping triggers and actions into a programmatic flow.
Using “If this, then that” logic, you can create any number of customisable workflow automations to suit your business’ needs. Most tools come with preset templates, making it even easier to get started when automating workflows.
ThinkAutomation is an example of a low code workflow automation tool.